Amul is set to elect its new Chairman and Vice Chairman later this week, to succeed Shamal Patel and Valamji Humbal respectively, whose terms end on Tuesday, January 24. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets dairy and FMCG products under the Amul brand, will hold elections on January 24, a company executive told FinancialExpress.com. The names of the possible candidates are not disclosed yet, and the same will be announced after the board meeting tomorrow.
Both Shamal Patel and Valamji Humbal were unanimously elected on July 24, 2020 in the elections presided over by the deputy collector of Anand district in presence of the 18 member cooperatives of the state. While Shamal Patel is the chairman of Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd (Sabar dairy) and has been associated with dairy cooperatives of Gujarat for over three decades, Valamji Humbal is the chairman of Kutch Dairy.
Earlier on 9th January, the then Amul MD RS Sodhi was asked to leave and hand over the charge to COO Jayen Mehta after a board meeting held at AmulFed Dairy, Gandhinagar.
Who will be the new MD of India’s largest dairy company Amul?
While COO Jayen Mehta had taken over as the interim managing director of GCMMF, the company might come up with the name of the full-time MD of Amul after Tuesday’s board meeting, per media reports. Reports suggest that the present interim managing director, Jayen Mehta’s candidature may also be considered as the full-time managing director by the board. Jayen Mehta is currently serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of GCMMF. He had joined Amul in 1991 and has served as the brand manager, group product manager and general manager of the company. However, the official who spoke to FinancialExpress.com said that the board meeting might not take a decision on this and that there was no defined date for the same as of now.
Amul under RS Sodhi
Sodhi had joined CGMMF as a sales officer more than 40 years back and had taken over as the MD of GCMMF in June 2010. He was on the extension for the last two years. During his tenure, GCMMF’s sales turnover increased from Rs 8,005 crore in 2009-2010 to Rs 46,481 crore in 2021-2022. Also, the average daily milk procurement by its member unions went up from 93.02 lakh kg to 263.66 lakh kg. “My organisation’s turnover was just Rs 121 crore when I joined. Our six district unions then (Kheda, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Baroda, Surat and Banaskantha) were together procuring only an average 12 lakh kg per day of milk. I have seen Amul grow over four decades,” Sodhi had told The Indian Express in an earlier interview.
RS Sodhi was groomed under the founder-chairman of Amul, Verghese Kurien. Under Sodhi’s leadership, Amul expanded into organic commodity and frozen products from just milk and milk products. The new full-time MD of the dairy major will have big shoes to fill in after Sodhi’s glorious tenure. In July last year, Amul achieved a turnover of Rs 61,000 crore. The organisation added Rs 8,000 crore to its group turnover in 2021-22 growing faster than its 12-year compounded average growth rate. The growth was courtesy post-pandemic recovery in out-of-home consumption and demand from restaurants, catering, travel and hospitality segments, it announced in a media statement last year.